Tiger density has remained high in Chitwan despite an increasing
human population size, likely because tigers are adjusting their
activity in space and time according to the type and magnitude
of human presence in the forest. Although more wary near
human settlement (i.e., lower detection probability), tigers spatially overlapped with people on foot and vehicles at a fine spatial scale
in both years, perhaps by using the night to avoid human disturbance
associated with local resource collection. The time
spent, noise made, and physical impact on the forest during resource
collection likely disturbs animal behavior more than
nonconsumptive human activities (e.g., wildlife viewing by tourists).